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Pollinators Thrive in the Pollinator's Garden

Posted by Devin Manky
August 24, 2015

Did you know that there are 56 species of native bees in the Greater Vancouver Area? 250 in BC? Thousands across Canada?

Wild Pollinators such as wild bees, flies, butterflies, wasps, hornets, moths, hummingbirds and others play a very important role in pollination all around us. We often hear of the importance of Honey Bee's for pollination - and that's still very true, Honey Bees pollinate most of our agricultural crops since those crops are farmed on a massive scale to provide all of our food needs - but on another scale, in our back-yard, in our alpine meadows, our neighborhood parks and equally important pollinators at work.

Next time you are around a flower garden, spend some time and watch for just what is visiting the flowers - you'll be surprised at the activity level!

I spent less than an hour inside our Pollinator's Garden here at Grouse Mountain and saw (and photographed) many different species at work. Several varieties of Butterfly, numerous fly species, an Anna's hummingbird, a few wild bee species and even some of our local honey bees were all busy at work inside the garden. The lure of sweet nectar is strong for these guys and in their pursuit of it they spread the pollen from plant to plant, thus increasing the garden's yield and providing even more food sources for future months and years.

It was absolutely fascinating to check out the biodiversity - you can do this at home in your garden, or if you are coming up to Grouse Mountain I highly recommend stopping by our Pollinator's Garden and spending some time looking at these small wonders at work.

Here are some photos of just a few of the species I found:

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